More buildings are adopting 'green building' index

KUALA LUMPUR: More buildings developers and owners are adopting the 'go green' practice to qualify for green rated buildings in Malaysia.
Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the signs are positive on green building initiatives with Malaysian construction and building industry embracing green building practices where both energy consumed and waste produced are reduced without irreversible impacts to the ecosystem.
"As of July 15, a total of 636 buildings have registered and to be certified with Green Building Index Malaysia. This is an increase of 14% over the same period last year. So far this year, 45 buildings have already been fully certified and the rest are still under provisional certification stage," said Fadillah, after officiating the Green Buildings and Parks World 2015 at Intercontinental Hotel here today.
He said over the same period last year, only 548 buildings were registered and up to middle of July this year, a total of 16 government projects have registered for Works Department (JKR) green rating scheme (pH) certification.
"Whereas, during the same date last year, only 10 government projects have registered for JKR's pH. This shows a positive increase in numbers of registrations by 38%. However, only one government project has been fully certified so far and the rest are still in the provisional stage," he added.
Currently, he said, many go green practices are being implemented including adopting day-lighting and natural ventilation by providing landscaping space in buildings and incorporating renewable energy feature such as solar water heating.
"Green practices are also about practicing total water management and installing water-saving devices for sanitary appliances in buildings and maximising rainwater harvesting technologies," he said.
Fadillah also said Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) will introduce construction industry transformation programmes under 11th Malaysia Plan, with one of the thrusts is to increase the green building programmes by pushing continuously more designs and constructions for greener buildings in the country.